Natalie Randall could be hospitalized for up to a year in Memphis as doctors seek to remove a rare and aggressive tumor from the 17-month-old child's brain.
Natalie is the daughter of Brian and Stephanie Randall of Pollock, La., formerly of Greenwood.
The couple, along with their other daughter, Hannah, 4, has relocated to the Target House in Memphis while Natalie undergoes chemo-therapy at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital.
She is the granddaughter of Fay Randall of Seven Pines, Dwight and Carolyn Randall of Greenwood, Rex and Mary Woodall of Carrollton, and Debbie and Karl Irby of Pollock.
Dwight Randall said Natalie's symptoms progressed quite rapidly at the beginning of the summer. The most noticeable difference was that she was no longer holding her head completely upright.
"We were at her birthday party in March, and she was fine," Randall said. "She was a normal, healthy child, and then the symptoms came on her."
After misdiagnoses of torticollis and cerebral palsy, a neurologist at Baton Rouge General Hospital ordered an MRI, and the tumor was found.
Natalie was admitted to Our Lady of the Lake Children's Hospital in Baton Rouge for emergency surgery, and doctors were able to remove 91 percent of the tumor.
Following the surgery, Natalie and her mosther were flown to St. Jude's in Memphis as soon as the child was strong enough to make the trip.
At St. Jude's, the growth was diagnosed as an atypical teratoid rhabdoid tumor. ATRT is a high-grade tumor that occurs most commonly in children under the age of 2. It spreads through the central nervous system.
Soon after, another MRI was ordered. Doctors discovered that the tumor had grown back to its original size and was now getting its blood supply from several blood vessels in Natalie's brain.
At that point, the doctors were forced to begin chemotherapy in order to shrink the tumor and make another surgery possible.
Natalie has now undergone three weeks of chemotherapy, and she will have to go through five more weeks before having another MRI.
"They've told them they would be there for six months to a year," said Fay Randall, Natalie's grandmother.
Natalie's parents have both been forced to leave their jobs in Pollock to stay with their daughter during her treatments. St. Jude's has provided them with an apartment in the Target House and $100 per week to buy groceries.
"It's a wonderful place up there," Dwight Randall said.
Natalie's grandparents have been visiting her once or twice a week in Memphis since she has been up there.
Fay Randall is employed with the Sta-Home Health Agency, and the company's Grenada and Carthage offices have already held fund-raisers for Natalie.
A bank account has been set up at the Bank of Commerce for the Natalie Randall Family. Anyone wishing to make a donation should contact Richard Avant, vice president of the bank.
